Monday Rant: Beer Trends

I think that even if you're a casual observer of news and happenings in the beer community you can still notice some of the fads and trends that come and go. There are quite a few that pop up now and then as well as those that seem to stick around for a good portion of time.

We had that STUPID shaker pint debate that lasted a mere two weeks. Excitement for national beer day Untappd badges appeared to be a something popular that lasted for about six months. The last two years, it kind of felt like brews aged in whiskey barrels seemed to be one of those things that people also flocked to. Sometimes it just seems as if some of us just get bored with what's "in" and consistently want to move to something else. Does beer lower the attention spans of some people?

It's getting to that time of the beer calendar in which some of the popular barrel-aged beers will start to appear in our local bars (if they're lucky enough to come across one of them). It might be just me, but since we began our trek through 2013 it seems as if there's been plenty of excitement in the department of beer and wine hybrids. A perfect example of this is an article on Victory Brewing's website pertaining to a new version of Golden Monkey called White Monkey.

Dogfish Head came out with the Noble Rot beer/wine hybrid not too long ago, but as far as I can recollect that brew wasn't aged in wine barrels like this Victory concoction will be.

One can only hope that this can be one of those things both craft beer and wine aficionados can share some ground on. That's if this does indeed end up being the next big trend in craft beer. There's quite a good chance that it might.